Lessons From Ezekiel – Lesson 15
Ezekiel chapter 19 is a short chapter and it should be no surprise at this point. It is another object lesson.
It is a lamentation for the princes of Israel. A lamentation is an expression of sorrow, cries of grief, the act of bewailing. The object lesson is about a lioness, which stands for the nation of Israel and she has young lions and they both learn to catch prey and devoured men. The nations take them in their pit and chain them. The first one to Egypt, the mother lion teaches the second young lion the same. So she did not learn and the second one gets taken in chains to Babylon.
And she gets dried up by the east wind and consumed in fire.
This truth is not a celebration to God. God gives this as a lamentation and clearly calls it such twice.
Eze 19:1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
Eze 19:14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
Chapter 19 while short clearly shows that what God was forced to do because of their sin does not make Him happy. It does not please Him.
Some people will say I don’t like that God of the Old Testament. All the harsh judgment. They talk and act like the people where not horrible and that sin is not horrible, and they talk like God enjoyed bringing judgment.
People who think like that have everything wrong on every level. They don’t really read the Bible and if they do, they surly don’t take any time to think about what is really going on.
And they have to ignore books like Ezekiel.
God did not enjoy bringing this. He tried everything to avoid it. Worked with them and worked and worked. Sent men of God, gave them His words, and worked in circumstances.
They would not repent. They would not turn from their sin. And now they have been burning their children as human sacrifices to idols.
A lamentation is an expression of sorrow, cries of grief, the act of bewailing. That is how God looked at this. It is a very sad thing that they continued head long in sin until it came to this point.
What we are going to be looking at today is chapter 20. And we are going to see one of those timeless truths that affect us and our relationship with our Lord.
Some title Chapter 20 Israel’s Continuing Rebellion
And much of the chapter deals with those Elders. Before we read it, I think it will be helpful if we remind ourselves of what other places in the Bible have to say about this subject. How do you come to God. Not only for Salvation but also after you are saved when you need to ask for forgiveness or when you have prayer requests.
What kind of heart attitude should you have? Let’s look at some verses that show us that the attitude needs to be one of humility and repentance. Repentance is a turning from and a turning to. Repentance is a change of mind, a real change of mind that will result in a real change in you.
Acts chapter 14 is a good example. Paul heals a man and the people react in a wrong way.
Act 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:
Act 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
Act 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
Act 14:11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
Act 14:12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
Act 14:13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Act 14:14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
So these people where worshipping false gods. And they were saying that Paul was one of their gods come down to them. And Paul responds with you need to turn from these things.
Acts chapter 14:15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
Preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities and turn unto the living God. The real true only God that created everything. That is repentance. Realize and admit your error; that you need to change. This is humbling yourself. Admitting your mistake.
And then turn from it and when you turn from it don’t turn to some other like error. No turn unto the living God. That is how you have to come to God. Here in Acts chapter 14 they needed to turn from and turn to God to get saved. These are of course lost people worshipping false gods.
The formula is similar for saved people who have messed up and did some terrible things and need forgiveness. It is also similar for saved people who have other needs, prayer requests but are currently indulging in and living in sin.
The formula is turn with a repentant heart. Humble yourself. Realize and admit your error; that you need to change. Be upfront and honest.
Before we go back to Ezekiel let’s look at a few more N.T. verses.
Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
1Th 1:9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
2Co 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Act 8:22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
There is a great example of Jesus reacting to cities that would not repent.
Mat 11:20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mat 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Mat 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
They would not repent so Instead of finding blessings from Jesus what did they receive? Woe.
Anyone can’t come to God with a hard, proud, and unrepentant heart and expect to receive salvation or blessings or answers to prayers. Back to Ezekiel.
Eze 20:1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
If you have been counting this is the 3rd time. The first time God interrupted and took Ezekiel away in a vision. The second time they came and were rejected and in that rejection they were given a history lesson of their sins.
Now they come a 3rd time. And how is God going to respond.
Eze 20:2 Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
Eze 20:3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
They did not take the hint the first time. The second time they were given an ear full. So you would think that when they come the 3rd time they might have humbled themselves and came with repentant hearts ready to acknowledge their sin and acknowledge the state of things.
God’s arms are always open for any that have a repentant heart. Many times thru Ezekiel we have seen God give promises and invitations and hope for the future. There has been an abundance of evidence that God has been trying to reach these people.
And here the Elders come for a 3rd time and for a 3rd time they obviously come with the wrong hearts. They had questions. We don’t know what those questions were because God would not even hear them.
They needed to fix their hearts first, and then ask their questions and they would have gotten answers.
Some people think that if they just keep coming they will get an answer. Jesus even teaches a parable about that in the N.T. with the unjust judge. However, if you keep coming in prayer the wrong way with a proud unrepentant heart, He will not listen.
Job_35:13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
Psa_66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Isa_59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
This principal is so important that it is consistently all thru out the Bible.
So in Ezekiel God has his man respond to them before they get one question out of their mouths.
Eze 20:4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:
And again they get an ear full. We are not going to read all of this. Much of it is the same lines as when they came the second time and we already went thru some of that.
God did wonderful things for them and they chose idols instead.
There is one thing that I want to highlight in verses 11 and 12.
Eze 20:11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
Eze 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
Eze 20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
The Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel. Many miss that today. The 7th day Adventists for one. There are also 7th day Baptists. If they read Ezekiel they would know better. The Sabbath had a specific purpose. It was to be a sign between God and Israel.
It was not intended for everyone. But did not God rest the 7th day and that was in the beginning before Israel. Yes but that was an example that man needs rest. Our bodies need a day off. And yes it was also an example that would be built on.
But the holy day of the Sabbath was not given until Moses was at Mount Sanai with the children of Israel. And now here in Ezekiel we are clearly told that the Sabbath was a sign specifically to Israel. And when you read the N.T. you will not find any N.T. authority for Christians to obey the Sabbath.
All of the other 10 commandments are reinforced in the N.T. but not the Sabbath. That holy day was a sign for Israel.
This is why I was more than a little shocked when I was told by a pastor once that I needed to obey the Sabbath and stop doing everything at 6pm on Friday. That is not only crazy tunes but not biblical at all.
The rebuke that the elders got here just keeps going.
Eze 20:16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
Eze 20:17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
Eze 20:18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
Eze 20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
Eze 20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
Again God clearly says the Sabbaths were a sign between God and Israel.
Again it keeps going.
Eze 20:30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?
And here it is. After the long list of what their fathers did, is the and commit ye. Here is the you are doing the same things.
Eze 20:31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
Eze 20:32 And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
Here is where the Elders should have changed their minds and their hearts. Here is where they should have repented and turned from and turned to.
Most of the rest of chapter 20 is God giving the promise that He will restore Israel. After the hard rebuke comes promises. Showing God’s goodness and faithfulness and His great power to work.
All good reasons for these elders to repent.
They keep coming but coming wrong and guess what they find. The same reaction. Volume of coming wrong never changes the not listening reaction.
We are all saved here so we don’t have to worry about that.
However this same principal also applies to getting our prayers answered.
Our Lord wants to listen to our prayers. He wants to help. He tells us to cast all our cares upon Him for He cares 1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
But we also need to never forget when we come before Him with any request we need to come with some humility and when we sin we need to come to Him with a repentant heart.
Admitting our mistake. Owning up to our sin. We need to come with a turning from and a turning to.
If we don’t we will not get very far. Even if we come that way 70 times, our volume of coming will not override or change this principal. We need to come to God with humility and with a repentant heart.